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Thursday, November 10
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PN 051
Power-Related Scandals and the Case of Japan
I. Pruša
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1
The University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies, Tokyo, Japan
Japan after Fukushima was not only emblematic of restoration efforts and energy conflicts. As a matter of fact, the whole post-3/11 period was particu‑
larly rich in scandal of various sorts. The corporate corruption of Olympus (2011–2), Takata (2013–4), Toshiba (2015) and Asahi Kasei (2015–6) became
fully exposed, while in 2014 many cabinet members suffered “financial irregularities” that lead to four ministerial resignations. Apart from the omnipres‑
ent celebrity “non-scandals”, three major cases of plagiarizing surfaced: the so-called STAP scandal of the stem cell researcher Obokata Haruko (2014),
the ghost-writer scandal of the half-deaf composer Samuragōchi Mamoru (2015), and most recently the Olympic logo scandal of Sano Kenjirō (2015).While
drawing on theoretical arguments frommedia studies and cultural pragmatism (e.g. Alexander 2011), this talk aims to make sense of the frequently occur‑
ring power-related scandals in contemporary Japanese society Japanese scandal was often rendered as“functional”, with corruption serving as a grease for
both politics and economy (e.g. Johnson 1982; Mitchell 1996; Pascha 1999; Babb 2005; Sato 2005). Nonetheless, the frequented power-related corruption
is not conductive to any sweeping reform, both structural and moral. I argue that scandal in Japan stands more for a mediatized and commodified (pseudo)
ritual of pollution, followed by scripted“degradation ceremonies”(term by Garfinkel), and eventual reintegration of the transgressor. Once a serious scandal
emerges, it is either hushed up, or it is followed by the tabloids’“nihilist enthusiasm”and a televised "ritual purge". Many corrupted politicians soon return
to politics, and others are shifted to a different, usually lower post. Scandal is a Durkheimian “social fact” that points to revealed transgression of certain
convention or norm (both symbolic and legal), which eventually provokes negative backlash of the public. In ideal-type scandal, certain questionable prac‑
tice becomes exposed and disapproved, inviting reputational damage (e.g. Thompson 1997; 2000). Scandals however do not begin with the transgression
per se. They are in principle disclosed via the act of whistleblowing, which is usually motivated by the “3Cs”: Capital, Conspiracy and Confession (Prusa,
2016). Moreover, the performance of various interrelated actors, which follows once exposed whistleblowing, significantly determines its fallout. The most
important scandal actors are the media of communication: every scandal becomes heavily influenced (narrativized, framed, commodified) by various media
outlets with differing news values and production logic. My talk will show that the Japanese mainstream press rarely takes initiative in uncovering elite
controversies. Contemporary scandals are more often triggered by the foreign press, online communities, and most importantly, by the semi-mainstream
weeklies (shūkanshi) that are not bound by reporting rules of the“reporters’club”system (kisha kurabu). While using examples of recent Japanese scandals
I will show how the mainstream media are in principle forced to take up, or to hush up certain scandal news. The mainstream media keep on maintaining
the“information cartel”(Freeman 2000) by framing and censoring the news, while the outside press, unbound by the rules of the cartel practices a relatively
unrestrained investigative reporting.
PN 052
Japanese Media and Pacifism
T. Hosoda
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1
Charles University in Prague, Fakulta Sociálních Věd, Prague, Czech Republic
It is well known that “Soon hot, soon cool” is one of unique national characters the Japanese have. In other words, Japanese are very easy to ride a crest
of a boom and go off it quickly. And there are many arguments that Japanese media tend to optimize the use of the national character or enthusiasm of peo‑
ple for securing own profit instead of fulfilling true function of journalism, to provide citizens with correct information they need to make the best possible
decisions about their lives, their communities, their societies, and their governments, because all of Japanese newspaper is commercial one and they have
very nature of seeking its own interest. Since Mukden Incident in 1931, major Japanese newspapers, which were suffered from decreasing circulation due
to great Showa economic depression, had fed radical frenzy or enthusiasm of Japanese public by war situation reports with emotional nationalism in
order to increase their number of copies. Finally the media took initiative to support the Japanese military and martialized Japan to irrational war against
the United States and its allies. And after Japan’s defeat in WW-II, the Japanese newspapers shifted from militarism to pacifism not only because they
needed to utilize lessons from the past but also enormous euphoria of peace existed in Japanese society just after they had experienced atrocious war. But
the pacifism was shaped mainly by own victim mentality based on past news reports and own experience instead of sense of Japan’s war responsibility.
Kiichi Fujiwara criticizes the pacifism as “unilateral pacifism”due to lack of conscious on war responsibility. In addition, it is also pointed out that there are
a few news writers who educated academically about security and national defense due to absence of military science at Japanese Universities. When P.M.
Kishi returned fromWashington after his signing to the SecurityTreaty with USA in January 1960, university students and workers started campaign against
the treaty and a part of newspapers also support their enthusiasm without essential hardheaded analysis for what Japan’s national interest should be. In
other words, some Japanese media fed another“enthusiasm of public”for own benefit again. Hence, prompt the doubt that Japanese newspapers tend to
support or oppose legislation related with national defense not based on sober analysis for Japan’s national defense but just on pandering to the public with
“Nationalist”or “Pacifist”tone articles for increasing own circulation. In this context, there is a need to analyze to what extent Japanese newspapers influ‑
ence to feed frenzy or enthusiasm related with Japanese Pacifism, to evaluate its positive or negative impact to deliberation process of important security
policies, and to verify whether the newspapers could fulfill its function in important period for Japan’s security. It might be useful for understanding a role
of Japanese newspapers to shape unique Japanese Pacifism, it is characterized not only by assumption of peace as rejecting to think or gain any knowledge
about military but also by extreme concern about human cost of Japanese, not foreigner.